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Yup, I thought Awareness was a good thing...so I practiced being aware of everything, every littlemove, breath, thought etc...true Zen style...Now I've discovered that I can barely Read or Writeanymore and have extreeme difficulty concentratingon tasks (like programming software) cause I'm alwaysaware of what I'm doing It's sheer madness... there are things we arn't supposed tobe aware of...like the billions of bacteria we breath inwith every breath...I can barely make sense of anything anymore cause theAwareness interferes with the process...I think being unaware and automated is key to performingmost tasks efficiently...so much for watching the thinker...

That's lack of concentration, or at least you can't focus your concentration doing tasks you used to do. Don't take me wrong but i would pay a visit to the doctor and ask him a vitamin supplement prescription, iron and phosphor are good ones.

Quote:MAIA said: That's lack of concentration, or at least you can't focus your concentration doing tasks you used to do. Don't take me wrong but i would pay a visit to the doctor and ask him a vitamin supplement prescription, iron and phosphor are good ones.

MAIA

I'm seeing a doc and a Therapist on a regular basis. Take a Multi Vitamin, iron, Omega 3 oils, Vit E, C etc etcdaily n eat a healthy diet...Concentration is paradoxical, the more u try to concentrateu can't... it involves becomming part of the activity andbeing unaware. So, awareness seems to hinder concentration...

Let me use an example. Lets say that I am working in the kitchen helping prepare the evening meal by cutting up a giant sack of onions into little onion bits.

I can be super aware of everything. I can notice the smell of the onions, the sound the knife makes cutting the onions, the size of the onion bits, the edge of the knife getting dull as it cuts, the small slices out of the cutting board every time the knife comes down, the smells of other food cooking, the...

or....

I can cut onions.

Being mindful doesn't mean to be aware of everything that is happening around you, but rather to be aware of your mind when it wonders from the simplicity of the task at hand.

Let me use an example. Lets say that I am working in the kitchen helping prepare the evening meal by cutting up a giant sack of onions into little onion bits.

I can be super aware of everything. I can notice the smell of the onions, the sound the knife makes cutting the onions, the size of the onion bits, the edge of the knife getting dull as it cuts, the small slices out of the cutting board every time the knife comes down, the smells of other food cooking, the...

or....

I can cut onions.

Being mindful doesn't mean to be aware of everything that is happening around you, but rather to be aware of your mind when it wonders from the simplicity of the task at hand.

Being mindful means to be aware of your mind period, whetherit wanders or not...In order to make the determination that the mind is wanderingfrom a task, the mind must be aware of whether it's on thetask or not - so it must be aware in both cases...And the mind will wander...Mindful also means to be aware of your reactions, so that"u can learn 'how you create your suffering'"...Watching the Thinker is a common meditative practice andis commonly called "being mindful"/insight meditation/vipassena etc...

Ah, but you put being aware and "Zen Style" together, so my answer was directed towards a Zen student rather than addressing common meditative practices... I cannot speak towards common practices, only towards Zen style meditation and mindfulness, which is what I was taught.

Quote:Seuss said:Ah, but you put being aware and "Zen Style" together, so my answer was directed towards a Zen student rather than addressing common meditative practices... I cannot speak towards common practices, only towards Zen style meditation and mindfulness, which is what I was taught.

Subtle differences in cause can create drastic differences in effect.

Maybe I'm doing something wrong, which is why I feel so awful

I've been practicing Vipassena style meditation as described/advocated
by Eckhart Tolle (popularized version), Jon Kabat-Zinn (author
of "whereever u go there u are", "full catastrophe living"),
Krishnamurti (an advocate of no-mind/quiet mind, observing the
thinker etc), Ram Dass etc.
I've read a bit on Zen as well (Allen Watts), and read
articles on the similarity of Zen and Vipassena
(e.g. at www.tricycle.com). My understanding has always been
that the presence of the Observer observing everything non-judgementally and unattached was the key to meditation and
Liberation from the Self. When u say "or I can just cut onions"
what exactly does that mean ? I mean it's fine in the context
of onions where the task is extreemly simple, but how does
that benefit say a Depressed or Anxious or otherwise Nurotic
person ? I mean it's analogous to saying "well just be" or
"well just be happy" - it's not saying very much...
I'd love to understand more, cause I think I might be
misunderstanding...

> but how does that benefit say a Depressed or Anxious or otherwise Nurotic person

Again, I am not qualified to answer your question. I can speak from personal experience, but that may or may not apply to your situation. There is a good chance than my ignorance would make your problem worse rather than better.